Footwear are perhaps the most ubiquitous and useful articles of clothing utilized by human beings. Shoes, boots, and other similar items provide warm to lower extremities and protection from rough ground surfaces. One (1) problem commonly associated with footwear is that of discomfort to a user during extended periods of use. During any standing position or walking or running motions, the full weight of a user's body is placed upon the feet and, as a result, the user's footwear. Extended periods of standing or walking can result in great discomfort to a user's feet, knees, back, and the like. While many shoes are provided with soles to provide a function which is better than that of standing on bare ground, constant use still affects the user's well being in a negative manner.
Various attempts have been made to provide shoes with means for enhanced comfort to a user. Examples of these attempts can be seen by reference to several U.S. patents. U.S. Pat. No. 4,345,387, issued in the name of Daswick, describes a resilient inner sole for a shoe, which provides a plurality of air pockets designed to compress and absorb a portion of impact when a user's foot contacts the ground.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,694,831 issued in the name of Seltzer, describes massage footwear in which the inner sole provides upwardly projecting foot stimulating massage bumps for traction and massage purposes.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,682,690, issued in the name of Chang, describes footwear with adjustable massage units. The Chang device provides a plurality of spring-loaded massage units which provide an upward bias against a user's foot to incur a self-adjustable massaging function.
Additionally, ornamental designs for comfortable footwear exist, particularly U.S. Pat. Nos. D 281,735, D 373,013 and D 412,390. However, none of these designs are similar to the present invention.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives, each of these references suffer from one (1) or more of the aforementioned disadvantages. Many such devices do not provide support enhancing functions. Also, many such devices do not provide massaging features which offer features beyond stimulation of the bottom of a user's foot. Accordingly, there exists a need for massaging footwear without the disadvantages as described above. The development of the present invention substantially departs from the conventional solutions and in doing so fulfills this need.